Day 15 - 18 (its been a while!)

---

Hey! Sorry it's been so long but due to internet restrictions in Iran, lack of wifi and slow connections in India and the fact I've been having too much fun the blog has been back of the mind! Will update you as best I can about the last 17 days, here goes...

Day 15

A long drive from Istanbul, left at 7am and arrived in Cappadocia and the town of Goreme at around sunset. On the way we stopped off at a salt lake which was a bit of a weird place made even weirder by the ostriches kept in a fenced off area, ah well! Cappadocia is a region made unique by it's fairy chimneys and caves so the landscape is really unusual and stunning! We stayed in the appropriately named flinstones hotel in a really cool cave style room with 6 beds, no heating, 1 socket and the dimmest lightbulb you have ever seen but I loved it! wandered into town for a veggie pottery kebab (cooked in a terracotta pot and then the pot is smashed to get the food out) A few beers and a local banana liquor then bed!

Day 16

Everyone bar me and 4 others were going on a balloon flight over Goreme and the surrounding area and had to be up ridiculously early. Me and cheryl decided to get up early too and go for an explore round the caves and rock formations so we wandered round through fields and rocks and eventually decided to walk to the next town where the whole old town is built into the rocks we got there about 9.30 when the place was empty and scrambled right to the top determined to find Osama Bin Laden on the way (perfect place for him to hide!) Got to the top where the views were amazing and we felt all proud of ourselves slowly wandered down (found mrs bin laden on the way down so minor result!) and walked back to Goreme. Bumped into a few of the others and decided that because it was the first warm and sunny day of the trip and that it was 11am it was the perfect time to get a beer! After a wander round the town cheryl and I decided to hire bikes for a few hours which seemed like a good idea at the time (the next day not so much, especially with a long bus journey!) Good but knackering day and Goreme and the surrounding area is beautiful!

Day 17

Another long drive to the town of Erzincan getting well and truely away from the tourist trail now and caused a bit of a stir when we stopped for lunch especially with the school kids who wanted to practise their english! After booking into the hotel and grabbing some food cheryl, nat and I decided that alcohol was needed in a fairly strict muslim town this did not prove easy! We were eventually "kidnapped" by 2 turkish guys who took us to a bar and got us some beer very awkward due to the fact they didn't speak english and we don't speak turkish and we were silently praying there was no date rape in the beers (mum don't panic it was fine, i'm joking!) after paying and running away from the bar we found an off license and bought some vodka for our own turkish party. We settled on the roof top and were joined by the hotel owners son who promised us more alcohol when he finished work at 1am (I promise i am not an alcoholic!) He arrived with beer, vodka and some other hotel workers a bit of a deja vu situation from before but we were luckily rescued by the arrival of a drunk chris and ross and after a few more trips for more beer and some ballet we decided bed was the best option!

Day 18

Not feeling pretty this morning but made it onto the bus in one piece ready for the long drive to Dogubayazit near the Turkish/Iranian border. To be honest didn't do much, chilled out grabbed some food and a few last beers before hitting the alcohol free country of Iran the next day!

---